Speaking in the Dáil recently, Deputy Noel Coonan described as ‘really maddening’ Minister Eamon Ryan’s comments that he anticipates an increase in the demand for high speed broadband into the future.
Deputy Coonan asked about progress in creating a ‘one-stop shop’ to which the Minister for Communications said the context for the proposal is ‘the anticipated increase in demand for high speed broadband into the future.’
In response, the North Tipperary Fine Gael TD said:
“In the three years since I have been a Member of the House, I have heard the Minister pontificate about what he is doing in terms of broadband and set targets which he has consistently failed to meet. To hear him say he anticipates a demand for high speed broadband is really maddening, especially if one comes from my region of the mid-west which has a higher than average rate of unemployment. Shannon Development has stated clearly that the most significant barrier to job creation in the mid-west is the lack of a high speed broadband system. It is simply not there. Metropolitan Area Networks have been in the ground and waiting connection for years and it is frustrating for broadband providers and the general public. I would like a time-frame and for the Minister to state when this will happen. He could have given this answer last September. I do not want to listen to the same story from the Minister next September,” said Deputy Coonan.
Ireland is still behind the EU average broadband penetration rate and there is less broadband penetration in rural areas than in urban areas. Ireland’s ranking in the EU’s Broadband Performance Index is 23rd out of 29 countries.
Ireland, is grouped in the fifth and lowest cluster group with Latvia, Hungary, and Estonia. The socio-economic context is more favourable in Ireland than in the other countries, but high prices and low speeds, limit its performance, as a result of weak competition. High prices, low speeds and limited rural coverage, hold back performance for the whole group.
Although some senior Government Ministers are staying at home, this coming St. Patrick’s Day, 23 key Government figures are flying to locations around the world to meet with key business and political figures to sell our wares.
We are told that these Government Ministers are using St Patrick’s Day as an opportunity to promote Ireland to locations around the world.
We understand that the Minister for Transport Mr Noel Dempsey will be in Toronto, Canada this St Patrick’s Day, to attend the Ireland Fund’s St Patrick’s day lunch with 1,000 business and political decision makers, meeting clients and their customers at an Enterprise Ireland business breakfast. It would appear, however, that Mr Dempsey’s “Ministerial Mercedes”, not to mention the vehicles of local TD’s, Local and County Councillors have not driven on the road from Templetuohy to Johnstown in the past three years.
The video hereunder demonstrates the current state of the road presently tolerated and shared by residents and those trying to transact their everyday business in and around Thurles, Templetuohy and the Moyne areas of Co.Tipperary.
We now ask a simple question “Minister, with the greatest respect, how do you promote a country with a secondary road structure familiar, only, to a fourth world State”
While in daylight this road surface is visible, some night soon some unfamiliar stranger to this area is going to loose their life.
Last week the Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe announced that refurbishment work at Nenagh Vocational School can now go to tender and construction.
Other school projects authorised to prepare tender documents include Borrisokane Vocational School, Ursuline Convent, Thurles and Scoil Mhuire Presentations Secondary School, Thurles. The Sacred Heart Convent in Roscrea has been authorised to appoint a design team in quarter three.
North Tipperary Deputy Noel Coonan has welcomed the recent announcement but said there is long way to go with 36 schools still waiting for their projects to advance.
He stated:
“There are 41 schools in North Tipperary that have made applications for major capital building works to the Department of Education. Five of these projects will now advance to the next stage as announced by Minister Batt O’Keeffe but it is my role in opposition to highlight the needs of the remaining schools and ensure Government Deputies in North Tipperary honour commitments made. The urgency of the situation cannot be underestimated with only five out of 41 schools, or 12%, moving to the next stage in North Tipperary. With new applications continuously being submitted to the Department of Education, this Government has a long way to go and supporting Deputies should not be blowing their own trumpets just yet.
I am continuously submitting parliamentary questions to the Minister for Educations to find out when local school projects will be advanced. In return the Minister replies that ‘in view of the level of demand on the Department’s capital budget, it is not possible to give an indicative time frame for the progression of individual school projects at this time’. This reply is unacceptable when it is the education of the children of our nation that is suffering. “
Individual school projects fall under four band ratings, each of which describes the extent of accommodation required and the urgency attaching to it.
Band One has the highest priority rating and Band Four has the lowest rating.
Boher NS Ballina, St.Anne’s Special School, Roscrea and Templemore NS, are of high priority with a band rating of One. These schools have applied for extension and refurbishment works with Boher NS urgently waiting on a Special Needs Unit.
Meanwhile, 22 North Tipperary schools are in the Band Two rating. Some of the schools waiting include Our Lady’s Secondary School, Templemore which is in early architectural planning for an extension, Scoil Ruaine, Killenaule which has an application for a PE Hall and Cloughjordan No 1 NS which has an application for refurbishment works. St.Joseph’s College in Newport have made an application for an extension and it too has been waiting patiently.
Seven projects have a band rating of Three and three projects have a band rating of Four.
Transport Minister Noel Dempsey recently announced the investment of some €411.408m in the regional and local roads network for 2010 with priority being given to repairing roads damaged by floods and freezing conditions.
Minister Dempsey said in allocating the money his priority had been “to address the most urgently required repairs resulting from the extensive damage caused by the recent severe weather,” estimated by County Councils to total €180m.
The minister said he had also simplified the grants structure and given more flexibility to local authorities to decide how the funds are spent.
Deputy Noel Coonan
North Tipperary Deputy Noel Coonan said this year’s road grant allocation is almost €5 million less than North Tipperary received in 2009 and falls very short of what is needed to repair the ‘Beirut Blitz’ on our roads throughout the constituency. Deputy Coonan said we have two North Tipperary Government Deputies patting themselves on the back yet again over a job, badly done.
The Regional and Local Road Grant Allocations to Tipperary North (County and Town councils) for 2010 are €11,807,118. The figure for last year was €16,239,338. This is a decrease in funding of almost €5million for the coming year.
Deputy Coonan said:
“While this funding is welcome it is not remotely adequate and we have Government Deputies Lowry andHoctor patting themselves on the back for this allocation which is nowhere near enough to repair the extensive damage from flooding before Christmas and frost after Christmas.
North Tipperary County Council has been operating with its hands tied behind its back waiting for this response, especially following the very bad weather we received. The roads are in an outrageous state in some areas which is a clear example of a totally indecisive Government that has failed to take rapid and immediate action. It lacks the confidence and ability to do so. People are suffering damage to their cars on a daily basis. The €139,000 allocated to Templemore Town Councils is a meager amount in comparison to the €204,000 it received last year for regional and local road maintenance.
Both Nenagh Town Council and Thurles Town Council received €287,000 in 2009 but this has fallen sharply to €195,000 for this year. The Department of Transport should be providing extra funding to rehabilitate the dire state of our roads at the moment but instead has provided an even lesser amount this year. Minister Noel Dempsey said these grants represent a significant investment at a time when public finances are under pressure but it is this Government that has created such pressure and I fear this slashing in funding will impact on safety levels on our local network of roads.”
The Minister for Education and Science, Batt O’Keeffe TD, today [Tuesday] announced details of 52 school building projects which can now go to tender and construction as part of the Government’s €579 million school building programme.
Five North Tipperary schools are named, which had been earlier sanctioned to further progress their building work.
Borrisokane will also receive funds for a ‘Special Needs Autism Unit’. This unit is designed to compliment as a second level outlet to the recently announced special needs unit in Puckane National School.
Last year, over 32 large-scale projects in primary and post-primary schools were completed.
The Government’s capital programme for schools and colleges this year are forecast to create 7,300 jobs in the construction industry. (Well that’s according to the Minister for Education and Science.)
‘Last year 967 schools benefited from small-scale projects undertaken under the Summer Works Scheme, while 1,700 schools received the go-ahead to carry out works under the Energy Efficiency Scheme,’ said Minister O’Keeffe.
These projects nationally are expected to create 23,000 new school places for children, through the building of 20 new schools and extensions.
The death took place on Thursday last of Tipperary born Mr Tomás Mac Giolla, former president of the Workers’ Party, who died at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, aged 86.
Mr Mac Giolla was born in Nenagh, Co Tipperary in 1924, son to farmer Mr Robert Gill and Mrs Mary Gill (Ni Hourigan). His uncle T. P. Gill was a Member of Parliament (MP) and member of the Irish Parliamentary Party of the land reform agitator, Charles Stewart Parnell.
Known in his early life as Tom Gill, he was educated locally by the Christian Brothers and later attended St Flannan’s College, Ennis, Co. Clare where his classmates were to included the future archbishop of Dublin, Kevin McNamara, and the future distinguished Dominican priest and social justice campaigner, Austin Flannery.
From St Flannan’s College, Mr Mac Giolla won a scholarship to University College Dublin (UCD) where he qualified with a Bachelor of Arts degree, followed by a degree in Commerce and was employed by the Irish Electricity Supply Board (ESB) as an accountant from 1947 until 1977 after which he became a full time politician. His contemporaries during his years at UCD included both future taoisigh, Mr Charles Haughey and Mr Garret FitzGerald.
He joined Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1950 and was interned for two years by the Irish government in the Curragh, during the IRA Border campaign of 1956 to 1962. He also served a number of prison sentences in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, one for six months for failing to give an account of his movements. In 1962, following the collapse of the IRA Border campaign, he was elected president of a then very isolated Sinn Féin, which later became Sinn Féin The Workers Party.
Mr Mac Giolla served as Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1993 to 1994 and remained a member of Dublin Corporation until 1998.
History will record Mr Mac Giolla as a man of great principle, personal courage, a champion of the poor and the disadvantaged, who played a central role in trying to wean the Republican Movement away from violence.
He is survived by his wife May (née McLoughlin, former member of Sinn Féin and Cumann na mBan, latter the women’s section of the IRA), his sister Evelyn and nephews and nieces.
North Tipperary Independent Deputy Michael Lowry has confirmed that he has held discussions with Transport Minister Noel Dempsey and the latter has confirmed his commitment to providing some €2.6 million, in relation to the completion of the Thurles link road.
This funding will see the link between the Templemore and Nenagh roads completed before the end of 2010.
This link road will includes the building of a €2.2 million bridge over the main Dublin-Cork railway line, which has been, supposedly, the major stumbling block to the continued progress of this long drawn out project. Construction came to a sudden stop in October last with the road footprint having been carved out. Deputy Lowry has stated:
“I have been in discussion with Minister Noel Dempsey on this congestion issue and arising from these talks I have gotten a commitment that the link road will be completed before the end of the year. Monies are being provided to finish the road and the engineers and design team have now agreed on the necessary requirement for the bridge. This will be a very significant piece of infrastructure for the area.”
When this long overdue road is completed, it will be the first step in alleviating heavy traffic congestion coming from the north of the county, which together with a poorly designed and badly flawed traffic calming system, presently brings Thurles to a standstill between the hours 8.30am – 9.30am and between 3.30 pm – 6.00 pm.
Presently, from a health and safety view point, both Fire, Doctor and Ambulance services are now being greatly hindered in their efforts to answer 999 emergency calls, particularly on the Dublin road, through Cathedral street and Kickham street, due to clogged motorists unable to mount high footpaths to give a clear way to these essential services. One angry frustrated motorist informed us this week:-
“Elderly cyclists who pay no road taxes, now decide the speed of traffic in Thurles, since they cannot be overtaken by motorists, due to the recent traffic calming measures introduced. These so called calming measures have had quiet the opposite effect to calming, with motorists forced to take unnecessary risks while becoming enraged and discourteous in their everyday driving habits within the town. We continue to elect Maurice Hickey type, self serving, headline gathering town and county representatives, with little or no business acumen or qualifications, to service our town and county’s need and what we elect is what we get.” he continued.
Once daily shoppers from the villages of Two Mile Borris, Moyne, Templetuohy, Holycross, Glengoole etc. have now taken their daily shopping trips to nearby Cashel, because of the long delays in Thurles traffic. Supermarkets on the outskirts of the town who offer free car parking, continue to do reasonable business at the expense of the now strangled town centre. Some local commuters and centre town businesses are now privately calling for a blockade of the town in order to highlight this ever growing problem.
Other Road Problems
North Tipperary County Council have estimated that between €3.2 and €4 million will be needed to repair roads damaged in the recent cold spell. Of this sum, €2.7 million will be needed to spent on restoring local and regional roads.
Motorists are asked to be particularly careful driving on the road between Thurles and Templetuohy, where road surfaces have been described as similar to mountainous terrain. The road from Templetuohy to Johnstown is grossly unsafe to travel by any form of transport, with large areas of the surface having subsided by up to 12 to 18 inches in many places over the past twelve months, leaving it particularly hazardous for unfamiliar motorist during periods of darkness.
If you feel strongly about this issue, please feel free to comment hereunder.
Confirmation from the Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern that the Garda College in Templemore is safe, has been received by Independent Deputy Michael Lowry. Mr Lowry sought the assurances after local Templemore Town Councillors spoke of ‘rumours of imminent closure’ due to the current recruitment embargo. However operations at the college are expected to be cut back.
Templemore Garda Training College
Plans for the 220-acre site at Clonmore, latter situated close to Templemore, Thurles, Co.Tipperary, which was ear marked for use as a firearms and as a tactical training facility three years ago, for €5.5 million, still remain on hold.
Minister Ahern assured Mr Lowry that the College would “not be closed for any period of time not withstanding the current recruitment embargo and the college will remains an integral part of the infrastructure of An Garda Síochána. It will continue to be used to train and up skill existing members of the force.”
Deputy Lowry communicated this information to a specially convened meeting of Templemore town Councillors and North Tipperary Oireachtas representatives in Templemore town hall on Monday night.
The Chief Superintendent Mr Jack Nolan, in charge of the college, has already assured all permanent staff at the college that their positions are safe. There is a problem with the positions of some of the catering staff at the college as they are not officially on the Department of Justice payroll, but a solution is currently being sought.
Deputy Lowry Stated:-
” While undoubtedly I would prefer new recruits to be going through the college and onto our streets, the current embargo gives the Gardaì the opportunity to engage in further training and up skilling for its current personnel. The main problem the force is experiencing at present is the retirement of senior members, and the vacuum of expertise and leadership that this has left. The recruitment freeze allows the Garda College the capacity to allow the training of existing officers for more senior and specialised roles, so that some of this deficit can be addressed.”
All eyes will now be focused on the implementation of changes to garda work practices recommended in last week’s report by the Garda Chief Inspector, former Boston police commissioner Kathleen O’Toole, to see if these changes will in any way effect the college’s future.
Chief Inspector O’Toole, in her recent published report, entitled ‘Resourse Allocation‘, recommends that advantage should be taken of future opportunities to acquire civilian staff with the required skills who may become available through increased mobility across the public service. Future recruitment of police officers should be linked to progress towards achieving an initial minimum target ratio of one member of police staff to every three serving police officers.
Per figures recently published by the National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA) based in NUI Maynooth since 2001, there are now no less than 33 “Ghost Housing Estates” vacant in Co.Tipperary. (17 in South Tipp – 16 in North Tipp)
During the period 2006-09, it appears that we have, as a nation, only now woken up to the fact that housing stock became completely devoid from any kind of realistic sensible projected planning and demand. This apparent oversight has now been further aggravated by a diminished market and an ever changing human population profile.
There were 217,101 housing units built in Ireland between April 2006 – Dec 2009. Based on 1996-2006 population growth there was a need for only about 85,446 units countrywide and we now have a potential oversupply of 131,665 units for which the lower paid working members of our Green Island are being asked indirectly to subsidise without ever getting our names on a Title Deed.
So How Did This Housing Surplus Happen?
A census here in Ireland takes place, usually, in every year that ends in a 1 or a 6 except when some national crisis rears its ugly head e.g. Famine, War or Foot and Mouth disease. ‘Census 2006′ took place on the night of Sunday, April 23, 2006. The preliminary results of the 2006 Census were published on 19 July 2006, that is three months following the actual Census Day.
The publication schedule for the Census 2006 reports can be downloaded here.
From these figures the Irish Government knew the population growth and household size for the period 1996-2006 from this 2006 Census and so they knew the number of household units that would have been required for the period 2006-09, if population growth followed this 06-09 trend.
Given this present government knew the number of house units built between April 2006 (date of the census) and 2009, for each county, they could therefore have calculated accurately the projected oversupply of units per county, based on these projected household growth and population figures.
If this data had been examined the following information would surely have been gleaned regarding Co.Tipperary.
Household growth 1996-2006 -5640. Houses required 2006-2009 based on 1996-2006 growth figures – 2256.
Because of this apparent failure to examine this known collected data, by developers, bankers etc, we now find ourselves in the following position as we go forward.
Houses built in Tipperary County 2006- 2009 – 7211. Over supply of Building Units -4955.
This situation now leaves Co.Tipperary with a percentage of housing over supplied, amounting to 439.6% and a problem which will haunt us for the next 10 years at least.
This is what happens when no one is ‘minding the shop’ and when greed and looting within our society is routine and allowed to go unrestrained by those we elect, entrust and enhance with large salaries and bonuses, to manage our affairs.
Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism Martin Cullen has spoken for the first time of his horrendous treatment by the media after he was wrongly accused of having an affair with a Waterford businesswoman Monica Leech.
PR consultant Monica Leech was awarded €1.87m in a record libel award in June 2009, after she won her action against Independent Newspapers.
Mr Cullen said defamatory media coverage of groundless allegations almost destroyed his life, that of his family.
Minister Martin Cullen, who was a guest speaker at a seminar on defamation, described the media intrusion he experienced over false allegations concerning Monica Leech as akin to “rape.”
According to RTÉ News and The Irish Times, he said that the media treatment he received was “like waking up every morning and being raped”.
Cllr Pauline Coonan
Feeling like a hare at a coursing meet , besieged even, witch-hunted, naked in public, violated or persecuted possibly, but most definitely not raped Mr Cullen.
North Tipperary Cllr. Pauline Coonan has described this comment made by Minister Martin Cullen on the sensitive topic of rape as “crass and hurtful”.
Cllr. Coonan said: “This was an extremely insensitive and tactless remark to make and undoubtedly hurtful towards all those who have experienced rape and who still suffer today. I was astounded that Minister Cullen could compare media coverage of allegations against him as being raped.”
Cllr. Coonan continued: “I understand that Minister Cullen and his family had a tough time during the groundless allegations but his remarks take no account of the horrific crime of the rape of children, men, and women. It is absolutely shameful that a Government Minister can compare the intrusion of the media to the absolute horror experienced by victims of rape. He was insensitive and uncaring in his remarks and his empathy is false, hurtful and damaging to real victims of rape,” concluded the Fine Gael Councillor.
People affected by rape can contact Aware’s Helpline by telephone on 1890 - 303 302 and the Rape Crisis Centre in Nenagh on 067 – 41122 for a listening ear.
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